Could Two Different Chevrolet Volts Debut At 2015 Detroit Auto Show?

Probably not, but there’s rumors that the Chevrolet Crossvolt could be unveiled.

According to Fox News:

“This past August, the automaker applied for a trademark on the name Crossvolt, which was published for opposition on Dec 23rd. The filing offers no details as to what GM’s intention for the name is, other than “automobiles.” General Motors would not comment on the application.”

“This isn’t the first time GM has tried to protect the Crossvolt name. It originally submitted an application in 2011, which was abandoned in November of this year. The new filing is essentially identical to the original.”

Quite simply this mean that General Motors is not ready to abandon the idea or name of Crossvolt, which is believed to be the preferred name for the Chevy Volt-based MPV5 concept Chevrolet unveiled in 2010.

There’s no indication that the Crossvolt will make an appearance at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show, but there’s always a surprise or two at each auto show.

Fox News adds:

“Details on the new Volt are still scarce, but Chevrolet executives have suggested that it will be more efficient, and have a longer range than the current car, which is praised by its owners, but has never lived up to its original sales expectations, in part because of its small, four-passenger accommodations. The addition of a popular crossover-style model could broaden its appeal and help it compete better against the likes of the Ford C-Max Energi, Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive and Kia Soul EV in the green car segment.”

“The 2016 Volt, or perhaps Volts, will debut in Detroit on January 12th.”

As for that cheaper Volt with less range that’s been discussed at length by some news outlets, we’ve always believed that idea to be nothing more than a made up rumor; at least for this year.

Random chance predicts that they will be right about something sometime. But since they have a specific ideology it is possible that they could continue to be wrong, about certain things, continuously.

NY’s Mayor Bill Deblasio killed the groundhog, and they are looking the other way! He carelessly tossed the poor animal to the ground and it died later of the injuries inflicted by that act of wanton disregard!

Same here. We love our Leaf, but we’ve reached the limits for accommodating our family. We’re not leasing another one or buying our current one. Right now, we’re waiting patiently for the Outlander PHEV.

OTOH, if a Volt crossover/SUV came out in the Fall with the right specs (dual motors, range superior to the Mitsu) then we’d go for that instead. But, like the Leaf, the Volt itself is too small for our family.

Why? Because current profit margins on big trucks is phenomenal. Adding all that EREV hardware and batteries is a lot of trouble for them, and when finished, the end product makes their big gas gulpers look tired.

Of course, they are tired, and yet they look to all-aluminum bodies as a “high tech” solution to higher federal MPG mandates.

Did you know GM’s fullsize pickup truck factory is in Hermasillo, Mexico, and VIA’s plant converts new Silverados, Tahoes and Suburbans built there into VIAtrux less than an hour’s drive away? They just drive the trucks over and convert them!

What we know , but GM doesn’t know that we know is that – by economies of scale, GM could sweep Ford, RAM and Toyota by mass-producing VIAs themselves, and offering a new EREV fullsized truck for $50,000 instead of $88,000 ( VIA’s current price for a VIAtrux ). If that seems expensive for a fullsized truck to you – GM and Ford now sell a high-end “High Sierra” or “King Ranch” truck for over $50,000 today. The EREV Chevy wouldn’t need an aluminum skin to go 35 miles all-electric, and return over 50mpg on longer trips.

We also must not forget that a quick trip to GM and Ford’s corporate websites reveal that several of their board members are either current of former oil company executives. Think I’m making this up? Go look. One GM boardmember represents an investment firm fully divested in oil rig platforms, oil drilling and research tools and the like!

Interesting, and somehow not terribly surprising either. Makes me wonder if the Volt would have ever seen the light of day if Bob Lutz hadn’t crammed it through GM’s big oil friendly, bureaucratic throat. Guess nothing changed even after Standard Oil was broken up.

I am tired of coming to this sight and having people denigrate republicans. My Father brother and I are all republicans and drive electric cars. Stop your tired ignorant partisan politics. If we want electric cars to succeed we need to have them be cars for all people not just liberals.

Glad to hear about some GOPers driving EVs. But you gotta face the reality that the GOP in general is pretty anti-EV. It seems to be the party-line now that you have to deny climate change. And you have to hate solar power. Go look at the way Fox News deals with EVs.

If Republicans don’t want to bashed on EV site then they need to have policies that support EVs. And they do that sometimes . . . George Bush signed the $7500 tax-credit into law. But right now, the GOP is on a nutty polarizing kick. If Obama supports something, the GOP opposes it. And that includes many of their own policies. As soon as Obama agrees to a policy that a GOPer proposed, it suddenly has cooties and they then oppose it. This includes things like immigration reform, cap & trade, Romneycare, etc.

I haven’t seen any indication of Voltec’s suitability for towing or hauling. It’s a significantly different demand envelope than normal EVs, and if it can’t be done on battery with respectable range, then it’s ultimately worse than a normal ICE engine.

To expand on that last part, a vehicle that uses an ICE to convert petroleum to electricity and then uses that electricity to power the wheels is, overall, less efficient than just using the ICE to power the wheels directly. The reason why the Volt does well is because the ICE does not need to be used at all for the vast majority of mileage… but a Voltec truck that regularly relied on ICE mode would really just be a waste of time.

It took Toyota over 12 years to introduce offshoots to the Prius. Everyone, and I mean every early adopter, engineer-type on EV or PHEV websites longs for that Volt Crossover or truck. Will we see it anytime soon? Hardly.

GM has stated publically that Volt is a niche car – mainly for West and East Coasts, and likens it to the Corvette.

For Volt to sprout other iterations, it would have to sell in the hundred thousand and above category, as Prius does.

According to Mark Reuss during an interview on Autoline, GM is trying to make the Volt mainstream and even hinted at sharing of the technology to other platforms. He talked a lot about sustainability too. If you haven’t watched it yet I highly recommend it.

I agree. The rumormill was alive with reports that Volt would come in two flavors – high end, and “Eco-Volt”. Even forum posters at GM-Volt.com shared instances at focus groups where GM showed them two versions of 2016 Volt.

It seems GM has stamped that rumor down by now, but not totally. A lower-cost Volt would only have less battery pack, and the top-tier Volt could have more range.

Chevy needs to beat BMW as the premier EREV maker, and here’s another way. I’m finishing a holiday, in Maine. Volt home, too small. Big BEV forcing unhappy trip compromises, for the family. Needed something in the middle, that would have allowed flexibility. Glitz doesn’t make up for “cold” facts.

There have been no hints of any kind beyond rumor that GM will produce a crossover Volt. I don’t follow tons of auto news, but if there had been any prototypes or test mules on the road of a Volt-like CUV/SUV, then InsideEVs would probably have reported on it. Given the lack of such evidence beyond the concept shown 5 years ago, I doubt that GM currently has any plans or intentions to produce a CUV/SUV in the foreseeable future.

I think they are perfectly willing to let Mitsubishi take the CUV/SUV PHEV market because they are (foolishly) convinced that it won’t sell very well. They probably are thinking that the Outlander PHEV’s overseas success is due to it being the “pro-environmental” attitudes of Europeans, or the high cost of oil or some such. They are so firmly convinced of “American Exceptionalism,” and that overseas successes can’t and won’t be replicated here in the US. Even if they think, even for a moment, that it might actually work, they are not willing to bet money on it. Therefore, there will be no CUV/SUV PHEV or Volt from GM for many years. We’ll have the Outlander PHEV, the Model X, hell, Nissan may even come up with it’s own Plug-in SUV (EV, PHEV, or both) before GM get’s off its ass.

In short, it is the same emphasis on “make money now at the expense of the future” that has plagued GM for decades and it seems as if Mary Bera is not going to change that mentality. Why take a risk on innovation when you can play it safe by producing the same gas guzzlers that made them buckets of money for over 30 years? It doesn’t even matter that following this rulebook doesn’t work like it used to anymore.

I would love to see a Volt CUV/SUV, even if I don’t get one (I would if the specs were right). And just because we haven’t actually heard anything doesn’t mean it can’t happen. They can still surprise us (as the article states) in Detroit or later. But I’d say the chances of it happening are very slim.

Idea: Make a 25 mile All Electric Range (AER) Volt, selling for under $27,000, particularly if the new Volt can deliver 50 miles AER, but costs $35,000+. Follow them up with a crossover that gives 40 miles AER!

That would be far better electrically than the Plug in Prius – however, so many are against buying anything from GM (even if a better product) that I doubt it would attract Prius owners to jump-ship and come over to GM.

I doubt that will happen but you never know. Technically, all the above is quite possible. But a car with a 1P battery means if one cell fails, the whole battery fails – plus each cell needs to deliver double the amperage.

Now, what if they did the junior Volt using the older LGChem cells (from the Gen-1 Volt) and then used 2P96S setup? That would be about 27 mile AER. Pulling 1/3 the current Volt cells out would still offer a viable experience with less range and cost. Then use the newer “beefier” cells for the Gen-II longer range Volt and CUV.

In one Vot Facebook question-and-answer session, someone flat-out asked GM if they were going to come out with a Volt-based crossover vehicle. GM’s answer was basically — “nope, not now” (my paraphrase).

I agree that such a car would be popular. I might want one myself. This could be something that GM would want to do in the near future — I hope.

It makes sense for GM to start out with just the gen 2 volt, and then expand out from there.